comment

Our MPs’ move to extend their term of office is not only a sign of selfishness but also moral corruption. The Ugandan MPs are treating us like Russia’s Stalin who inflicted unimaginable pain on a hen, that walked back to him expecting grain. COMMENT | Allawi Ssemanda |  It is sickening. …

How failure to share family cultural history endangers symbols that represent common ancestral origin COMMENT | NATHAN KIWERE | Writing on page 137 of his book, ‘The Baganda’ (Macmillan and Co., 1911), John Roscoe, a British colonial historian, states that when animals were becoming scarce, Kintu, with the general consent of …

It is important to recognise that data alone are not enough, common sense matters COMMENT | KAUSHIK BASU | After years of stressing the importance of evidence-based policymaking, economists have clearly had some influence on politicians. What economists now need to do is to impress upon those same politicians that citing …

Weighing economic, political ties and future relationships that could prove decisive for Africa COMMENT | HANNAH RYDER | Ask anyone with a basic knowledge of Africa which country is more poised for success – Zimbabwe or Kenya – and he or she will undoubtedly answer “Kenya.” Events of the last week …

Why inflation and monetary-policy adjustments by central banks might not impact its price COMMENT | JIM O’NEIL | Writing about oil prices is always risky. In a January 2015, I suggested that oil prices would not continue to fall, and even predicted that they would “finish the year higher than they …

COMMENT | By Amos Wekesa | Recently out of curiosity, my son asks me why I fly economy class when I travel with him, his brother and sister. I realized that children need a lot more explanation about why we do certain things. I tell my son, I make sure I don’t …

Six barriers that make it difficult for African states to use research for policy COMMENT | WILLEM FOURIE | African policymakers need access to high quality evidence to implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) successfully. The SDGs are arguably the most broad-ranging development goals to be ratified by United Nations member …

Unlocking economic growth by breaking through both cost and planning barriers of physical infrastructure COMMENT | FARHAD KHAN | The African Development Bank projects that Uganda’s GDP will grow from 5.1% in 2017 to 5.8% in 2018. Among other factors, the government has highlighted the role of information communications technology (ICT) as …

Not about profits and interests of multinational companies COMMENT | MICHAEL J SSALI | The recent article in The Independent magazine (October 31 2017) titled “Tears and Cheers over New GMO Law” left me, as a farmer and a science journalist, disappointed. It carried negative and misleading sentiments about agricultural biotechnology. …

According to new research, female leaders may be more likely to provoke military coups COMMENT | RAJ PERSAUD  &  PETER BRUGGEN | Recently, Zimbabwe’s generals took President Robert Mugabe into custody in an effective coup (though they insist on not calling it that). Days later, the country’s ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National …